After reviewing nearly three dozen books, the committee—a volunteer group that includes about 20 students, faculty, and staff from across campus—was unanimous in its choice of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me as its selection for the annual shared reading experience. The slim but powerful volume—written as a letter from a father to his teenage son—offers one man’s personal account of what it’s like to be black in America and the toll racism takes on individual lives and entire groups of people.
The book won the National Book Award for nonfiction and was widely celebrated as one of the best books of 2015.
“Between the World and Me is perhaps the perfect common reading book for an emerging adult audience in today’s United States,” said Lisa Freinkel, vice provost of undergraduate studies.
Working in conjunction with campus groups such as Parent and Family Programs and the Clark Honors College, the Common Reading committee is developing materials to support students’ encounters with the text, including research guides that will be available through the library and reading guides for students and parents. Several faculty have already signed on to use the book in their classes starting as early as this term. For example, Larry Wayte, instructor in the School of Music and Dance, is using Between the World and Me in his First-Year Seminar, “From Minstrelsy to Hip Hop: Exploring Popular Music in America” (MUS 199).
“Our greatest hope is for strong faculty involvement in the program, not only on behalf of our first-year students, but also on behalf of the larger opportunities the book presents and in light of the challenge and intensity of its scope,” Frienkel said. “With faculty help and guidance from the Teaching Effectiveness Program, we are eager to move forward with care and attention to teach this book well.”
Learn more on the Common Reading website. Visit the Participate page to request a review copy of the book. Follow Common Reading on Twitter @UOCommonReading, using #uocommonreading and #btwam.
Thanks to generous support from the Office of the President and the divisions of Equity and Inclusion and Student Life, Undergraduate Studies will provide Coates’ book to incoming 2016–17 first-year students during IntroDUCKtion sessions.